Textile machine



Aug. 18, 1959 D. G. SOUS\SLOFF ETAL TEXTILE MACHINE Original Filed July 7, 1-955 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 1959 D. G. SOUSSLOFF ETAL 2,899,796

TEXTILE MACHINE Original Filed July 7, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 l W Wm. I

Fi A Fig-3 F1 -5 j v INVENTOR.

DIM/TR! G SOUSSLOFF RICHARD G. HILBERT A TTORNEY United States Patent TEXTILE MACHINE Dimitri G. Sousslolf, Wallingsford, Pa., and Richard G.

Hilbert, Smithfield, R.I., assignors to Universal Winding Company, Cranston, RI. a corporation of Massachusetts Original application July 7, 1955, Serial No. 520,537. Divided and this application July 9, 1956, Serial No. 596,758

3 Claims. (CI. 57-35) The present invention relates to an apparatus for treating a strand of yarn and more particularly relates to an apparatus for imparting crimp to a strand of yarn, and is a division of our copending application Serial No. 520,537, filed July 7, 1955, now abandoned.

Since the advent of synthetic yarns, many processes and mechanisms have been developed to impart varying degrees of crimp to the synthetic fibers in attempts to make such yarns resemble wool in their feel and appearance, to make them bulkier, to increase their heat insulating properties and to impart to them a certain amount of stretch or resilience. The more successful of these prior art methods and mechanisms have involved twisting the yarn, setting the twist in the yarn and untwisting the yarn. These steps have been performed in various ways with varying degrees of success. The most successful approach to the problem has been to highly twist the yarn being treated on twisting machines of the type known as uptwisters. The packages of twisted yarn have been removed from the twisting machine and the twist set by subjecting the packages of twisted yarn to a moist atmosphere at relatively high temperatures. Following the twist setting step, the yarn was rewound onto uptwister bobbins which were placed on uptwisters where all or substantially all of the twist was removed from the strand of yarn. This process hasproduced very good results and has achieved considerable commercial success when employed in connection with thermoplastic yarns as, for example, linear superpolyamides of the type known as nylon. The above described process while producing satisfactory yarn is extremely costly and slow because of the lentgh of time involved, the many times the yarn must be handled in the course of the process and the large quantities of machinery that must be devoted to the work in order to obtain the yarn in quantities that can be used commercially. Many attempts have been made to perform the twisting, twist setting and untwisting operations as a continuous process employing a false twister. Heretofore, these attempts have not been commercially successful due to the inability of the mechanism to, accurately and uniformly control the tension in a multiplicity of strands.

The invention accordingly comprises the apparatus possessing the construction, combination of elements and arrangement of parts, which are exemplified in the following detailed disclosure, and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the claims.

For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention, reference should be had to the followingdetailed description taken in connection with the ac- 'companying drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a section of an apparatus embodying the present invention; Fig. 2 is ,a side elevation corresponding to Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view with parts broken away showing the yam advancing mechanism;

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Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken on the line IVIV of Fig. 3; and

Fig. 5 is a view corresponding to Fig. 4 but showing the yarn advancing roll disengaged from its driving mechanism.

The apparatus of the present invention is adapted to draw a strand of thermoplastic yarn from a supply thereof, wet said yarn with water, a liquid including water, or other suitable fluid, and pass the strand of yarn to a heating zone and a false twist spindle which highly twists said strand over a predetermined length thereof. The heat applied to the wet twisted yarn in the heating zone preferably is suificient to at least partially plasticize the yarn and to convert the liquid carried thereby to vapor to thereby set the twist therein. After the twist has been set the twisted strand passes through a zone of lower temperature to permit the yarn to cool below the temperature at which it becomes thermoplastic before it leaves the spindle. The yarn preferably is positively fed to the false twist spindle under a low tension to permit it to contract under the influence of said heated zone. After the yarn leaves the false twist spindle it is wound in a package of convenient size and shape.

The apparatus for advancing and wetting the strand of yarn comprises a roller rotatably carried by a pivoted arm and a yarn guide for spacing several turns of yarn on said roller. The arm is adapted to pivot from a first position wherein the roller is engaged with a driving mechanism therefor and partly immersed in a yarn wetting liquid, to a second position wherein the roller is disengaged from its driving mechanism is out of said liquid, and is accessible for a manual threading operation.

Referring now to the drawing wherein a preferred embodiment of the apparatus of the present invention is disclosed. The apparatus preferably includes a plurality of substantially identical units mounted side by side on an elongated base or frame and all being operated by a single common source of power. Inasmuch as the gang mounting of textile machines is well known in the art, and the units are substantially identical, only one unit of the apparatus will be explained in detail together with such other details as are necessary to a complete understanding of the invention.

A longitudinal support or shelf 10 is carried by vertically extending frame members (not shown) and serves as a support or creel for the supplies 12 and 13 of thermoplastic yarn to be crimped by the apparatus. Support 10 is provided with a plurality of pins 11 to position and hold the supply packages 12 and 13 in predetermined locations thereon. Pins 11 are arranged in two substantially parallel rows with the pins in said rows staggered with respect to one another so that said supply packages 12 and 13 are also staggered with respect to one another. The packages 12 forming a back row' and packages 13 forming a front row. Inasmuch as false twist spindles are used to impart twist temporarily to the strands of yarn drawn from packages 12 and 13, the yarn being so twisted does not balloon to any appreciable extent thus making it possible to position the false twist spindles closely adjacent one another. By staggering the packages 12 and 13 as above described, packages of large diameter can be utilized as the supply.

A longitudinal rail 14 forming a part of the framework of the machine and carried by vertical frame members (not shown) has a plurality of yarn guide eyes 15 and 16 projecting forwardly therefrom. Guide eyes 15 are located above supply packages 12 and guideeyes 16 extend forward a greater distance and are located above supply packages 13. Rail 14 also carries trough 17 which extends longitudinally of the machine and slightly to the rear of supply packages 12.. A shelf-like tension bracket 18 projects'forwardly from trough '17 and is provided adjacent its forward edge with yarn guide eyes 19. Each guide eye 19 is in alignment with one supply package 12 or 13. In back of each guide eye 19, bracket 18 is provided with a tension-applying device 20 which preferably is a disc type tension device old and well known in the art. To the rear of tension device 20 another yarn guide 21 is provided to hold a running strand of. yarn in said tension device 20.

A shaft 24 is located in trough 17 and is journaled for rotation therein. Suitable means, not shown, but which may be a separate motor or a connection to the source of power driving the machine, are provided for rotating said shaft 24. A gear 25, formed from a non-corrosive material, is fixedly secured to shaft 24 to'one side of the vertical plane containing tension device 28 and its associated supply package. A horizontal shaft 26 is fixedly secured to the frame of the machine and is located in front of trough 17. A bell-crank lever 27 is pivotally mounted on shaft 26 at each crimping position and carries a yarn feed roller 28 and gear 29 on its rearmost end (see Fig. 4) by means of a stub shaft 31. Gear 29 is fixed to one end of roller 28 so that said gear and roller rotate together as a unit and both are preferably made from a non-corrosive material that will not be affected by yarn wetting liquid contained in trough 17. Bellcrank lever 27 is positioned on shaft 26 so that when it is pivoted rearwardly to position roller 28 in trough 17 gear 29 will mesh with gear 25. The forwardly extending arm 32 of bell-crank lever 27 serves as an operating handle by means of which roller 28 and gear 29 can be pivoted rearwardly to mesh gear 29 with gear 25. A horizontal rod 23 is positioned beneath shaft 26 and serves as a stop to be engaged by handle 32 to hold roller 28 in its forward position as illustrated in Fig. 5. It will be obvious that when gears and 29 are in mesh, rotation of shaft 24 will rotate roller 28. A comb-like member is fixed to the rearwardly extending arm of bell-crank lever 27, by means of a stud 22, in alignment with roller 28 and cooperates with said roller, in a manner to become apparent hereinafter to space wraps of yarn on said roller.

A heating member 33 is fixedly secured to longitudinally extending bar 34 above roller 28. Heater 33 preferably is a metallic block having yarn guiding grooves '35 formed in the convex forwardly facing surface thereof. Heating member 33 can be heated in any convenient manner, however, it is preferred to embed an electrical resistance heater therein.

A false twist spindle 36, driven by belt 77, is located above heater 33, and is mounted on bed 48, supported by vertical frame members (not shown), to engage the strand of yarn being processed and to impart twist thereto to the length thereof extending between said false twist spindle and roller 28. V

A winding or take-up unit is located above and somewhat to the rear of false twist spindle 36 to wind the running strand of yarn after it has left said spindle. Two banks of winding units are provided in the apparatus of the present invention to permit winding the yarn processed by each of the closely spaced processing units. Each takeup unit comprises a rotatable package driving roller 39, 39a and means for holding a winding package in contact with said roller. Two rotatable horizontal shafts 38 and 38a that are parallel to each other and vertically spaced apart are journaled in frame members (not shown) above and to the rear of spindles 36. Rollers 39 and 39a are secured to and spaced along said shafts 38 and 38a respectively so that the rollers carried by shaft 38 are in alignment with the supply packages 12 and the twisting and twist setting mechanisms associated therewith, while the rollers carried by the uppermost shaft 38a are in vertical alignment with supply packages 13 and the twisting and twist setting mechanisms associated with them. Reciprocating traverse bars 40 and 40a are located in front of each set of rollers 39 and 39a respectively and each traverse bar carries aplurality of yarn guides 41 adapted to traverse the running strand of yarn onto a winding package all in the manner well known in the art. A spool 42 is positioned above each of the rollers 39 and 39a so that its barrel, or the yarn wound thereon, will contact the periphery of its respective driving roller to rotate said spool and to thereby wind the strand of yarn thereon. Any convenient means, for example slotted fingers 43, may be employed to hold spools 42 in position above said driving rollers.

The above described apparatus is threaded in the following manner. Strand of yarn Y is drawn from pack,- age 12 or 13 and is threaded through the appropriateyarn guide eye 15 or '16. Strand Y is next directed through guide eye 19 through tension applying device 20 and yarn guide 21. The forwardly extending end of bell-crank lever 27 is depressed to swing roller 28 out of trough 17 to a position above tensionbracket 18; StrandY isthen given several wraps around roller'28' and comb like member 30 each wrap being'l'aid in a different notch or. groove in said comb-like member. The strand isthen drawnup wardly in front of heater 33, through false twist spindle 36 and over traverse guide 41 and attachedto takeup spool 42. Spool 42 is then placed on contact with roller 39 and bell-crank lever 27 is lifted to swing roller 28' rearwardly into trough 17 to mesh gears 25 and 29 to thereby rotate said roller. The rearward movement of roller 28 lays strand of yarn Y in the groove 35 in heater 33- and its rotation draws said strandv from its supply package and passes it on towards heater 33, spindle 36 and takeup spool 42. Rotation of spindle 3'6 twists strand Y in the length between said spindle and feed roller 28, and inasmuch as a portion of that length is in contact with heater 33 the twist is set therein. The temperature of heater 33 is such that the strand Y, while in contact therewith, is heated above the temperature at which itbecomes plastic but below the temperature at which it will melt or burn and to a temperature that will vaporize the liquid carried by said strand. The distance between heater 33 and spindle 36 is sufiicient to permit strand Y to cool below its plastic temperature before leaving said spindle.

Trough 17 can contain a supply of water, or any other desired fluid, the level of which is maintained above the lowermost part of roller 28 so that strand Y is thoroughly wet prior to coming in contact with heater 33. As the wet yarn strikes heater 33 the moisture carried thereby is vaporized to provide a high temperature vapor which in many instances assists in setting the twist in the strand Y.

It will be obvious that feed roller 28 can be driven at different speeds. Therefore, it is possible to feed yarn into the zone between spindle 36 and roller 28 at a higher speed than it is being wound by spool 42 to permit the strand to shrink as it passes over heater 33. The strand can be fed into that zone at a speed lower than the speed at which it is wound whereupon it is stretched while it is in the plastic state, or it can be fed to the zone at a speed equal to its winding speed so that it neither shrinks or is stretched.

Since certain changes may be made in the above apparatus without departing from the scope of the invention herein involved, it is intended that all matter'contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in-a limiting sense.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for imparting crimp to thermoplastic yarn comprising a heater adapted to be contacted by said yarn, a false twisting device disposed to impart false twist to said yarn, means for drawing said yarn over said heater and through said false twisting device whereby said device imparts a false twist to said yarn emerging from said heater and said twist feeds along said yarn across said heater, a yarn engaging roller movable from a first position wherein it guides said yarn into contact with said heater to a second position wherein it holds said yarn out of contact with said heater, and means to positively rotate said roller when in its said first position to thereby feed said yarn toward said heater.

2. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein said rotating means is disengaged when said roller is in said second position.

3. Apparatus for imparting crimp to thermoplastic yarn comprising a heater adapted to be contacted by said yarn, a false twisting device disposed to impart false twist to said yarn, means for drawing said yarn over said heater and through said false twisting device whereby said device imparts a false twist to said yarn emerging from said heater and said twist feeds along said yarn across said heater, a source of fluid vaporizable upon contact with said heater, said source being disposed on the opposite side of said heater from said false twisting device, and a yarn engaging roller movable from a first position at least partially immersed in said fluid, in which position the roller both impregnates the yarn with the fluid and guides the yarn into contact with said heater, to a second position away from said source of fluid, at which position the roller holds the yarn out of contact with said heater.

References Citedin the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,089,194 Dreyfus Aug. 10, 1937 2,143,876 Harris Jan. 17, 1939 2,334,420 Lang Nov. 16, 1943 2,657,451 Solliday Nov. 3, 1953 2,761,272 Vandamme et a1. Sept. 4, 1956 2,780,047 Vandamme et a1. Feb. 5, 1957 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,090,011 France Oct. 13, 1954 

